1. Field
This disclosure relates to methods and apparatuses for processing an ultrasound image by acquiring a plurality of ultrasound images from three-dimensional ultrasound volume data and post-processing the acquired ultrasound images to clarify the ultrasound image.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, diagnosis equipment using ultrasound images have been widely used. Diagnostic ultrasound imaging equipment forms and provides an image of an object to be diagnosed, e.g., an organ, by radiating ultrasonic waves onto the object to be diagnosed and detecting and processing ultrasonic waves reflected from the object to be diagnosed. The diagnostic ultrasound imaging equipment allows real time medical treatment and does not harm human bodies. However, the diagnostic ultrasound imaging equipment provides a lower image quality than other medical diagnosis equipment because of a low degree of definition due to noise, particularly speckle noise. The speckle noise is noise caused by an interference phenomenon among ultrasonic wavelengths, and appears as a spot in an ultrasound image. The image quality of ultrasound images is degraded by the speckle noise, and accuracy in perceiving an important part such as a boundary between an object to be diagnosed and a background is lowered.
Previously, research has been conducted on methods of removing noise from an ultrasound image by applying an arbitrary threshold value to a single two-dimensional ultrasound image to enhance an image quality of the ultrasound image that has been degraded by the noise.